WASHINGTON — Former President Jimmy Carter arrived at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday to lie in court after a memorial service attended by his family, Vice President Kamala Harris, members of Congress and other officials.
Congressional leaders praised Carter, the 39th president, praising his work, faith, and volunteerism during his time in office.
“Jimmy Carter was an all-too-rare example of a talented man with humility, humility and grace,” Harris said. She recalled being in middle school when Carter was elected president.
“He lived his faith, served others, and left this world in a better way than I could have ever imagined,” she said.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R.S., said Carter’s volunteer work has built homes on behalf of the nonprofit Habitat for Humanity, including a 1994 project in Carter’s home state of South Dakota. Emphasized the spirit.
“He came here to get down into the weeds and the dirt, and he literally did that with a lot of habitat construction,” Thune said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) praised “the enduring legacy he left not only on this country but on the world.”
Carter’s casket arrived at the Capitol in a horse-drawn caisson around 4:30 p.m. ET. Upon arrival, cannons were fired and family members gathered on the steps of the Capitol. Honorary pallbearers carried him to the Rotunda, where his casket was placed in the Lincoln Catafalque. The platform was built to support President Abraham Lincoln’s casket and is now used for such ceremonies. It will be open to the public from around 7pm until midnight. Statues of Lincoln and other presidents, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Harry Truman, and Gerald Ford, whom Carter defeated in 1976, line the rotunda.
After the memorial service, the Naval Academy Glee Club sang “America” and Congressional leaders laid flowers at the casket.
Several members of the Supreme Court paid their respects, including Chief Justice John Roberts, Brett Kavanaugh and Elena Kagan, as well as Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser also attended.
Carter’s body will be in state repose until Thursday morning, when a service will be held at the Washington National Cathedral.
Tuesday’s events began in the morning with the transfer of Carter’s remains from the Presidential Library in Atlanta to Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, near Washington. From there, Carter and his family traveled by motorcade to the U.S. Navy Memorial on Pennsylvania Avenue between the White House and the Capitol.
At the Naval Memorial, authorized by Congress and authorized by President Carter in 1980, his remains were transferred from a hearse to a horse-drawn caisson for the funeral procession to the Capitol. According to a military statement, the procession was designed to mirror Carter’s inaugural parade on January 20, 1977, when he and his family rode from the Capitol to the White House instead of riding in a presidential limousine. He said he walked.
“This was the first time a president walked the Pennsylvania Avenue sidewalk after the inauguration,” the White House Historical Association said, demonstrating Carter’s desire to make the presidency accessible to all. said.
The family says the public is invited to honor and celebrate Carter’s life along Pennsylvania’s funeral procession route and Constitution Street toward the Capitol.
The last president to lie in state on official duty at the Capitol was George H.W. Bush in 2018.
Carter, the longest-living former president, died on December 29 at the age of 100. He had been living under hospice care at his home in Plains, Georgia since February 2023.
President Joe Biden, who is scheduled to deliver a eulogy at a cathedral service Thursday morning, has declared the day a national day of mourning. After the service, Carter’s body will be flown back to Plains and Maranatha Baptist Church, where he taught Sunday school for decades, before being privately buried.
